War Military: From 1978

Chapter 251 The Suffering of the Staff Officers!
"Section Chief, is that enough? Just keep going. Just keep going and we'll cross the border!"

Among the high and dangerous peaks of the mountains, several figures were climbing in a miserable manner.

Chu An has now reached the top of the mountain, and there is a young staff officer who has just come up beside him.

His name is Cai Youhe, and the two people who are still crawling slowly below are called Fu Sihao and Li Yong.

The three were staff officers in the Operations and Training Unit, while the older deputy chief of staff stayed in the office.

“That’s all?
Look at the map yourself, have you really arrived?" Looking at the staff officer who was holding his knees and gasping for breath, Chu An spoke calmly.

We walked less than two kilometers in the mountains and forests.

His physical fitness is more than enough to handle it.

Of course, he could, but the three people he forcibly brought out were a little unbearable.

As soon as Chu An finished speaking, Cai Youhe said in a low voice with a bitter face: "It seems that it is still not good enough. Almost.
But Chief, it’s ok, right? The mountain ahead is the border. Didn’t the fellow villagers say that the boundary marker is on the top of the mountain? There might be danger over there. Let’s…”

"Are you scared?" Chu An looked at him sideways.

"How is that possible! Chief, I am also a soldier!" Cai Youhe tried hard to stand up straight.

"I believe it, so stop talking nonsense!"

He deliberately brought them out today to experience mountain marching.

Yesterday, the Vietnamese devils attacked Pingguan Mountain, but ultimately failed. However, the soldiers of the Second Battalion stationed on Hill No. 4 also suffered heavy losses, with nearly twenty casualties.

In addition, only one of the Vietnamese agents who blew up Maka Mountain was left. The rest escaped back to their country because it took time for our army to arrive.

But the war did not stop there.

Last night at Pingguan Mountain, the Vietnamese devils launched another large-scale attack.

With the cover of night, they once again emerged from the southern slope of Hill No. 4.

Although they still failed to capture Hill No. 3 in the end, they caused more than 20 casualties to the Second Battalion.

This behavior of the Vietnamese devils undoubtedly completely angered the C Regiment and its superiors.

Therefore, the plan requested by Regiment C to send small company- and platoon-level troops into the country to fight was approved.

To this end, the operations department naturally has to produce an operations plan.

And because the plan was needed urgently, the deputy section chief and even the original section chief who stayed said that they would take out the original plan and use it first.

Only Chu An insisted on disagreeing.

So they could only temporarily find some fellow villagers to inquire about the situation yesterday, and several staff officers revised the battle plan again and again overnight.

They thought Chu An would be satisfied this time.

But the result was that they were dragged into the mountains by Chu An after not sleeping all night.

Chu An's purpose was very clear, he wanted them to personally experience the difference between fighting on the map and fighting on the ground.

After all, just last night, they had originally planned to cross the three kilometers of the forest in just one hour, but after asking the locals, they reluctantly changed the time to one and a half hours.

Because the locals said that when they usually went up the mountain to collect herbs or work, without carrying too much stuff, it would take about an hour and a half, or at most two hours.

The staff officers believed that our soldiers were well-trained, more professional, and young, and would definitely be more flexible and efficient in operating in the jungle.

So an hour and a half is a very generous amount of time.

To be honest, Chu An almost vomited last night.

They only considered their fellow villagers to be ordinary people and older.

But they didn't take into account that our young soldiers had never traveled through these mountains.

Simply basing plans on age, military service, and fellow villager status overlooks the fact that fellow villagers struggle to make a living and have lived in this area for decades. Why should familiarity with the terrain, experience climbing mountains, and the pressures of life be lost to your young soldiers?
Of course, Chu An didn't say this at the time.

Actions speak louder than words.

"hu~hu~"

Finally, another staff officer came up.

As soon as he came up, he rolled to the side and gasped for breath.

The cliff is actually not very high, only about twelve or thirteen meters, but their physical fitness is really poor.

On the battlefield, they followed the regiment headquarters and often rode horses or cars. At the very least, they ran on safe roads after the front-line troops cleared the obstacles. They had no idea of the pain of hiking in the deep mountains and forests.

Chu An just watched silently, and soon, the last person came up.

"It's been two hours and twenty-one minutes!" Chu An raised his hand to look at his watch and silently reported the time.

"Huh, Chief, this... this is too tiring. We are cadres in the office!" Li Yong, who came up last, was now lying here gasping for breath.

Chu An raised his eyebrows and said, “Aren’t you soldiers?

I don't ask much of you. You can't compare to the scouts, and the ordinary soldiers are physically better than you. But you saw my fellow villagers last night, they are already in their fifties or sixties."

"Section Chief, we were wrong!" Fu Sihao sat up, looked at Chu An, and apologized bitterly.

They are not stupid, so they naturally know why Chu An pulled them out!
"Whether we're right or wrong, you can judge for yourself. We're soldiers and don't give up halfway. So, everyone, get up! We've already exceeded the time limit. Let's try our best and reach the boundary marker within three hours."

Chu An obviously would not let them go just because they admitted their mistakes.

They must deeply understand the hardships involved and keep them in mind, so that they can learn to think from other people's perspectives when formulating battle plans in the future.

In this way, they will consider it more comprehensively.

The situation where the staff officer of the operations unit is unpopular must change, at least when he is the head of the unit.

He doesn't want to be stabbed in the back, nor does he want to be scolded behind his back every day, or even stabbed in the back.

Yes, the current combat unit cadres are actually so unpopular.

Because of their combat plans, many times the soldiers failed to arrive at the mission location on time. If the mission was completed smoothly, it would be fine.

But on the other hand, if the mission does not go smoothly or even fails, they will have to take the blame directly.

But are they really wrong?
Just like this short march now.

If the combat staff's original plan was followed, they would reach the border in an hour.

Even if they try their best, they may not be able to complete it.

In this case, if the mission went slightly wrong, or if the enemy happened to pass by here in an hour or even an hour and a half according to the plan, but they were delayed in marching for a longer time, they would miss the ambush time.

Subsequently, the enemy here passed through safely, causing heavy losses to our army in other places.

The superiors don't understand the specific situation and will definitely blame them for not completing the task properly.

This kind of blame is not Chu An's imagination, but there have been many similar ones in the previous counterattacks.

The gap between paper combat and actual combat, the information exchange between troops, and the coordination between tactics, all lead to failures due to the inadequate implementation of paper plans, and ultimately, it is very likely that the grassroots troops carrying out the mission will be blamed.

Often when this situation occurs, the grassroots troops will definitely feel resentful after taking the blame, and ultimately these resentments will be concentrated on the combat unit that formulates the tactics.

This is how contradictions arise. The root cause is that cadres are divorced from the grassroots.

Chu An is not asking them to act with the soldiers now.

He had no intention of sending staff officers to the battlefield to fight. He only asked them to personally experience the difference between map work and marching on foot, and then to work out a reasonable plan that would allow the soldiers enough time to carry out the mission.

(End of this chapter)